Fatties and smokers should not be demonised

They are demonised by govts round the world because of the costs they impose on society.

It is the long-living healthy (non-smoking, non-obese) who ultimately generate the highest lifetime medical costs says a letter writer to the Economist.

Something to chew on

“Counting calories” (August 13th) takes it for granted that obesity costs the National Health Service “billions of pounds each year”. According to a widely cited study from 2008 by Pieter van Baal, a Dutch economist, it is the long-living healthy (non-smoking, non-obese) who ultimately generate the highest lifetime medical costs. Because obese people die younger on average, they require fewer years of medical care and are less likely to fall victim to the expensive morbidities associated with old age. Obesity prevention is important to improving public health and should not be seen purely as a way of saving money.